The headache can be one of life's terrible ordeals. Few things more thoroughly comprise enjoyment of your quality of life.
Learning how to get rid of a headache without medicine can be a real life saver. It's a way of getting at a serious problem in a manner that doesn't make the situation worse, nor simply cover over the original cause. This is real health/self care, not mere symptom management or masking.
One of life's great ordeals is the headache. At the best of times they're annoying and distracting from the things upon which we'd like to be focusing our attention. And at the other extreme they can be utterly debilitating, making it in fact impossible to focus on anything.
Many people, when confronted by such an experience don't think twice about grabbing a fistful of over the counter pharmaceuticals. This approach doesn't provide the easy panacea which so many seem to assume it does. To begin, it's an inconvenient fact not all such drugs are equally reliable. They don't all work for everyone and for some people it seems that no drugs work at all. That is especially for the worst headaches.
However, even if you do relieve the headache, there are those who are understandably reluctant to stuff too many industrial strength chemicals into their blood stream. We get enough of that on an ongoing basis, anyway, don't we?
But even those who aren't so conscientious about what they put in their bodies still have to confront the consequences of pharmaceutical side effects. Just like the headaches that cause people to turn to pharmaceuticals, the latter's side effects may range the spectrum from uneasy annoyances to sometimes pretty serious health hindrances. Here you are in danger of having the cure being worst than the illness.
That's a fair bit to take into account, but consider this too: even should the industrial strength chemicals work for your biochemistry, and even if they do so without incurring any troubling side effects, when all is said and done, all you've actually achieved is the elimination of your headache symptoms.
Symptom relief is not to be taken lightly or dismissed in a cavalier manner. The suffering and discomfort of headaches are serious matters. Eliminating such pain and suffering does improve the quality of life of the headache suffer. There is though a price to be paid for an excessively short term approach to headache resolution.
If our approach to our headache is strictly guided by the relief of symptoms, we never actually address the cause of the headache. Symptoms of course are only effects, not causes. However thoroughly one addresses the effects of something, the cause remains a separate matter.
There are two sides to this matter. The first and perhaps most obvious is that no relief of symptoms ever addresses underlying physiological, psychological or lifestyle factors that lead to your headaches in the first place. The actual root cause remains unresolved. This is not though just a matter of efficiency; it can have serious consequences. The masking or alleviating of your headache symptoms inadvertently reduce your incentives for getting at the root cause of the headache.
Like any other symptom that your body may provide, a headache is usefully regarded as the warning signal being sent to your conscious mind that there's something wrong with your body or life -- something ill-adapted between your being and your environment. To simply ignore such warning signs or to conceal them from your awareness does nothing to resolve the matter about which the sign is giving you warning. To consider a rather extreme example, obviously, medication that helps alleviate the discomfort you feel as a result of impediments to blood circulation is not going to do much to prevent the onset of gangrene, with the resulting need for limb amputation.
We will repeat, there is no denying here that relief from pain and other symptoms can be a huge benefit to our quality of life. The difference in knowing how to get rid of a headache without medicine, though, provides resolution that goes beyond symptom relief. It is about getting at the root cause: discovering and addressing the source of your headache symptoms.
Not heeding the warning signals of a headache, and going for the quick fix of pharmaceutical symptom relief, is pretty much the same as driving your car with a blindfold on, so that you won't have to stop for any red lights. It will work in the short term. You won't see the red light. It's the long term which is the concern.
Learning how to get rid of a headache without medicine can be a real life saver. It's a way of getting at a serious problem in a manner that doesn't make the situation worse, nor simply cover over the original cause. This is real health/self care, not mere symptom management or masking.
One of life's great ordeals is the headache. At the best of times they're annoying and distracting from the things upon which we'd like to be focusing our attention. And at the other extreme they can be utterly debilitating, making it in fact impossible to focus on anything.
Many people, when confronted by such an experience don't think twice about grabbing a fistful of over the counter pharmaceuticals. This approach doesn't provide the easy panacea which so many seem to assume it does. To begin, it's an inconvenient fact not all such drugs are equally reliable. They don't all work for everyone and for some people it seems that no drugs work at all. That is especially for the worst headaches.
However, even if you do relieve the headache, there are those who are understandably reluctant to stuff too many industrial strength chemicals into their blood stream. We get enough of that on an ongoing basis, anyway, don't we?
But even those who aren't so conscientious about what they put in their bodies still have to confront the consequences of pharmaceutical side effects. Just like the headaches that cause people to turn to pharmaceuticals, the latter's side effects may range the spectrum from uneasy annoyances to sometimes pretty serious health hindrances. Here you are in danger of having the cure being worst than the illness.
That's a fair bit to take into account, but consider this too: even should the industrial strength chemicals work for your biochemistry, and even if they do so without incurring any troubling side effects, when all is said and done, all you've actually achieved is the elimination of your headache symptoms.
Symptom relief is not to be taken lightly or dismissed in a cavalier manner. The suffering and discomfort of headaches are serious matters. Eliminating such pain and suffering does improve the quality of life of the headache suffer. There is though a price to be paid for an excessively short term approach to headache resolution.
If our approach to our headache is strictly guided by the relief of symptoms, we never actually address the cause of the headache. Symptoms of course are only effects, not causes. However thoroughly one addresses the effects of something, the cause remains a separate matter.
There are two sides to this matter. The first and perhaps most obvious is that no relief of symptoms ever addresses underlying physiological, psychological or lifestyle factors that lead to your headaches in the first place. The actual root cause remains unresolved. This is not though just a matter of efficiency; it can have serious consequences. The masking or alleviating of your headache symptoms inadvertently reduce your incentives for getting at the root cause of the headache.
Like any other symptom that your body may provide, a headache is usefully regarded as the warning signal being sent to your conscious mind that there's something wrong with your body or life -- something ill-adapted between your being and your environment. To simply ignore such warning signs or to conceal them from your awareness does nothing to resolve the matter about which the sign is giving you warning. To consider a rather extreme example, obviously, medication that helps alleviate the discomfort you feel as a result of impediments to blood circulation is not going to do much to prevent the onset of gangrene, with the resulting need for limb amputation.
We will repeat, there is no denying here that relief from pain and other symptoms can be a huge benefit to our quality of life. The difference in knowing how to get rid of a headache without medicine, though, provides resolution that goes beyond symptom relief. It is about getting at the root cause: discovering and addressing the source of your headache symptoms.
Not heeding the warning signals of a headache, and going for the quick fix of pharmaceutical symptom relief, is pretty much the same as driving your car with a blindfold on, so that you won't have to stop for any red lights. It will work in the short term. You won't see the red light. It's the long term which is the concern.
About the Author:
For all the latest news on overcoming headaches without medicine, you've got to to be following the best tips at the How to Get Rid of a Headache without Medicine site. We've got you covered. Tosh Caliberni writes for a number of health blogs. If you're planning outdoor fun, either at the cottage this summer or a winter getaway in the sunshine, you've got to to read Tosh's great piece on watching for Mosquito Bite Allergy Reactions